Stories about South Asia from December, 2009
Bangladesh: Turning Back The Clock
To alleviate the nation's energy crisis Bangladesh adopted daylight saving time last June. The government has decided today to turn back the clock on the 31st December midnight. Omi Azad at Micro Reality Bites asks when exactly Bangladeshis will be celebrating the new year then?
Bhutan: The Finer Things In Life
Liz Warren at Teaching In Thimphu looks back at her life in Bhutan focusing on three simple words – laughter, beauty and trust. “Consider your own lives and see where these three words take you,” comments Liz.
Nepal: The Power Struggle
“(The) Maoists fought for ‘freedom’ from age old monarchy, but someone else has replaced the monarch now and is ruling Nepal,” comments Dr. Abdul Ruff Colachal while discussing the recent power struggle between the Maoists and the ruling coalition.
India: The Sapling Project
Two Mumbai based netizens have started a campaign to distribute plant saplings across Mumbai and other cities of India. The plant owners will use citizen and social media tools to report the updates of the growth of the plants.
Bangladesh: Marine Debris
Bangladesh has the longest sandy beach in the world which is threatened with tourist debris: from cigarette butts to fast-food wrappers. Muntasir Mamun Imran writes about a program of activists to clean up the Cox’s Bazar beach.
India: New Visa Regulation Limits Multiple Entry
Smallsquirrel at Desicritics warns international tourists of a recent change in the Indian visa regulations which limits multiple entries into India and requires an additional permission for re-entry.
Pakistan: An Eye For An Eye
Kalsoom at CHUP! – Changing Up Pakistan criticizes a recent verdict at a Lahore court which ordered that two men will have their ears and noses cut off as punishment for doing the same to a woman who refused to marry one of them.
Bangladesh: Inflation And The Rise Of Food Price
J. Rahman at Mukti talks about the recent inflation of Bangladesh and opines that the real cause of increase in the price of rice is because of the relationship between the Bangladeshi Taka – Indian Rupee exchange rate.
India: Gains From Copenhagen
The Acorn analyzes what India has achieved from the Copenhagen summit. The blogger opines that the “real gains were geopolitical—neither the United States nor China could have their way without India’s support”.
Bhutan: The Launch Of Drukpa
Jurmi Chhowing announces the launch of a new Bhutanese monthly news magazine, called “Drukpa”. He informs that: “the monthly magazine was born as discussion after discussion highlighted the lack of a proper bridge to gap the difference between all sections of our society.”
Pakistan: Negligence in Medicare
Sana Saleem at Mystified Justice discusses about the recent cases of negligence in medical service in Pakistan and urges everyone to be more vigilant.
Sri Lanka: The Mouthpiece Of The Ruling Party
A Voice In Colombo criticizes two state owned TV channels for being biased to the “governing party” and discusses how it can affect the upcoming presidential elections in Sri Lanka.
Sri Lanka: Lesser Of Evils
The campaigns for the election in Sri Lanka are gearing up and Serendipity suggests to root for the leader, who has more experience in life rather than politics and who is the lesser of evils.
Copenhagen summit: Nepalese Ministers Miss The Point
The Nepalese cabinet held a meeting near Everest base camp days before Copenhagen summit to emphasize that effects of global warming on Nepal. However, bloggers are criticizing the bulky Nepalese ministers delegation to Copenhagen and questioning their effectiveness.
Bangladesh: Home Grown Solutions
The lunatic is on the grass proposes some home grown solutions to mitigate Bangladesh's traffic woes.
Bhutan: Looking Back At 2009
Whatever matters looks back to assess the Bhutanese government's performance this year.
Pakistan: Wedding Season
Its winter and marriages are happening everywhere in Pakistan as its unofficially the wedding season. Muhammad Rizwan at All Things Pakistan has details.
Bangladesh: Travel In The Sundarbans
Asif posts a multi-part travelogue (Part 1, 2, 3, 4) on his recent tour to the Sundarbans, which he terms unforgettable.
No Indians Allowed
Haagen Dazs, an International ice-cream brand had opened its Delhi outlet and the sign on the door read, “Access restricted only to holders of international passports.” Like many Indian bloggers, J Srinivasan at Desicritics is outraged.
India: From The Classified Ads
Soumyadip at Cutting the Chai was astonished to see what is being offered in the classified ads published in a Sunday Times of India supplement.
Sri Lanka: Groundviews wins Manthan South Asia Award
ICT for Peacebuilding (ICT4Peace) reports that the Sri Lankan citizen journalism platform “Groundviews” has won the prestigious Manthan Award for South Asia under the e-news category.
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